Another great app from Adobe’s stable – Adobe Illustrator Draw – is a really capable drawing app for the iPad which also offers complete Apple Pencil support. The app allows you to sketch vector graphics and then easily edit them on your desktop afterwards using the ‘send to desktop’ feature. Mac OS doesn’t come with any paint app but that doesn’t mean that there is a dearth of paint apps on Mac and it is quite the opposite. But before downloading any third party app, we highly recommend checking out Preview and checking whether it fulfills all your needs or not.
So when I first made the switch from Windows to macOS a few years back, one of the gripes I had and can imagine many other people having too is the absence of a stand-alone basic graphics or painting utility application. While Apple kind of pioneered such apps on personal computers with their Macintoshes shipping with MacPaint, the scenario has been quite different since the last 3 decades with MacPaint seeing its last release in 1988. Today we take a look at 5 different paint app for mac; whether you are someone who has been missing MS Paint on Mac OS or just looking for a basic painting app, this list is for you.
Before even hopping on and suggesting a bunch of third-party apps, I wanted to shine some light on one of the most underused and under-rated native apps on Mac OS: Preview. While I was on the hunt for a paint app, Preview managed to seriously surprise me with its capabilities.
To get started, open Preview and open up the image you want to edit or simply open the image with Preview directly. Next show the Markup Toolbar by the clicking the icon shown below.
Does Apple Have A Paint App Look
Read: Use Mac’s Preview App like a Pro with These Tips & Tricks
You can now find a whole host of editing options from simple sketching and drawing to insertion of various shapes and text and even adjusting image parameters like exposure, contrast, sharpness and a lot more. You also get the ability of adding a signature or signing your PDFs from Preview itself, image size formatting and text formatting options.
Although Preview has a lot to offer, it may not be the perfect replacement for some as it does not allow you to create new image files which is its biggest setback.
Quick Tip: Be sure to first make a copy of your image before editing with Preview, as it automatically saves all your changes and it could be really hard to revert back if you have already saved the image.
2. Paint Brush
Paint Brush for Mac OS is like the perfect replica of MS paint. The app is quite bare bones and extremely easy to use, offering just the basic functions of a paint application.
Unlike Preview, in this app you can create a new document and this is the first thing you are greeted with, on opening the application and you can state the size of your canvas. It offers all the basic functionalities just as MS paint like pencil, colour fill, shapes, text, magnification and also a colour picker tool which comes in very handy. It also supports most image formats including JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIFF and GIF.
Paint Brush is also very fast to open and get work done with and will be perfect for doing some small editing or painting stuff in a jiffy.
Price: Free
Link: Download Paintbrush from here
3. Seashore
Seashore is a free, open-source paint application for Mac OS built entirely in Cocoa. While the UI might seem a little dated, the app has a lot of tricks up its sleeves which makes it an upgrade to Preview or Paint Brush. SeaShore introduces the concept of layers, just like you have in Photoshop. The layers work like sheets of acetate stacked upon each other and the transparent areas allow you to see through to the underbidding layers. This allows you to create different layers for different effects and adjusting the effects separately or deleting them separately, thus providing easy management.
Seashore has a nifty gradient tool where you can specify the direction and strength of the gradient. Some other features include alpha channel editing, texts with sub pixel rendering and textures.
Read: 10 Best Ways to Open and Edit PSD files without Photoshop
Quick Tip: Another free and open source alternative is Pinta, which is also cross platform and an exact clone of Paint.NET on Windows.
Price: Free
Link: Download Seashore from here
Does Apple Have A Paint Application
4. MS Paint using Wine or Play On Mac
If you didn’t know, Wine is an awesome and efficient way to run native Windows applications on your Mac and the best part about it is that unlike Bootcamp or VM installations, it does not require a windows license and does not add that overhead.
The setup process can be a little tedious, but it is definitely rewarding as you can run most of your Windows apps on your Mac. Play On Mac is a third party tool built on Wine, which we recommend for installing Windows applications on Mac OS. Just download Play On Mac and all the dependencies required for Wine and then you should be able to install any Windows app of your choice. To install Paint, go to Install Apps > Graphics > Paint and hit download. MS Paint should be installed on your computer and it works just as good on any Windows PC.
Quick TipApple apps for mac. : Although Wine is much less intensive or involving than Bootcamp or a virtual machine running Windows, it still takes up a lot of space with its dependencies and adds overhead. So we recommend this method if you are someone who is planning on using more Windows apps on your Mac or just cannot do without MS Paint.
Price: Free
Link: Download Play On Mac from here
5. Pixelmator
While MS Paint is mostly about simplicity, it doesn’t hurt to include a feature packed app for all the power users out there. As I said, by no means should Pixelmator be considered a basic app as it is far from that, having a boatload of options, effects and features.
Pixelmator also offers layers with the option of layer styles presets where you can either use a predefined preset or save your own custom style preset. It also has retouching tools, colour correction tools and a real-time effects machine along with all the drawing and brushing tools. It even sports iCloud support and the ability to publish your pictures directly to social media.
What makes Pixelmator stand out from all the other professional graphic utility apps, is its flexibility; while it does have a lot of features, one can also just use the brush or pencil tools to doodle anything just as they would in any other paint app. The app is not at all overwhelming even for a beginner and strikes a perfect balance between simplicity and productivity. If you do not mind spending $30, Pixelmator is a keeper.
Price: $29.99
Link: Get Pixelmator on the App Store
Wrapping Up: Microsoft Paint for Mac
Mac OS doesn’t come with any paint app but that doesn’t mean that there is a dearth of paint apps on Mac and it is quite the opposite. But before downloading any third party app, we highly recommend checking out Preview and checking whether it fulfills all your needs or not. Paint Brush is an awesome simple and easy to use paint application while Seashore is slightly more complex with the addition of layers.
Pixelmator is one heck of an app with all its features, but it is very flexible and you can use it as an MS paint replacement to a cheaper Photoshop alternative. And last but not least, if you need to use a lot of Windows apps, Wine is your best bet to get MS paint running on your Mac. So this was our list of the Microsoft Paint for Mac. Which one do you use daily or did we miss yours? Let us know in the comments below.
The Apple Pencil has upped the ante when it comes to creating art on the iPad. The fine-tipped point and pressure sensitive stylus is here and ready to get down to business. If you’re looking to get the most out of your Apple Pencil, you need to check out these six free drawing apps for the iPad & Apple Pencil.
Autodesk Sketchbook
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Autodesk’s Sketchbook is a handy tool for any professional artist. The app has a wide range of features including rulers, geometric shapes, over 190 customizable brushes, and much more. Right now, my favourite part of Sketchbook is the radial symmetry tool. It’s super fun – definitely worth checking out!
Adobe Illustrator Draw
You can bring the power of Adobe Illustrator to your iPad with Abobe Draw. The app contains lots of useful tools for creating vector drawings, icons, and artwork. You can zoom to 64x for fine details, export straight to .ai files, and make perfect lines, shapes, and curves with the digital ruler. Don’t forget to use the layers function to keep your work organized!
Tayasui Sketches
One of my favourite things about Tayasui Sketches is the ability to organize drawings into different notebooks within the app. Adobe reader free download for apple. While the free version of Sketches is excellent for quick illustrations and doodles, purchasing the app adds a bunch of features that make it a much more powerful drawing app.
You can try out the Sketches pro features for an hour, so you can decide for yourself if it’s is worth the purchase. Upgrading to the pro version of the app will give you access to features like surface pressure, layers, types of paper, and more brush customization options.
Adobe Comp CC
You can easily create wireframes and design mock-ups using Comp CC. The app is fast and straightforward to use with plenty of premade shapes, image placeholders, and lorem ipsum headlines at your disposal. Comp CC is great for laying out web designs, and if you like working on the iPad, it will definitely increase your productivity.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
Most of the Adobe iOS app suite works excellent on the iPad, each for a reason for their own.Abode Sketch comes with a lot of the same features as Adobe Draw. However, Sketch gives you the tools to create more expressive drawings and paintings. The watercolour brushes in the app are great. Watch colours bleed as you paint, or hit the fan button to dry the paint before your next brushstroke.
Evernote Penultimate
Just looking for somewhere to take handwritten notes?Penultimate, created by Evernote, allows you to write notes and draw doodles that you can search for within the Evernote app. Add pages to your notes and choose from a variety of preformatted sheets including storyboards, to-do lists, day planners, and music sheets.
Penultimate also has a few preformatted game sheets that were popular before the iPad – Hangman, TicTac-Toe, Dots and Boxes, and the License Plate Game.
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